Showing posts with label Cooper. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Cooper. Show all posts
Almost 6 months ago, my then 4 and a half year old had almost his entire 5th birthday party planned.

"Momma, all I want is for my friends to bring their bikes and cars and ride up and down our street with me!  Let's call it, 'Go Cooper Go!'"

And with that, a cars party was born (in the church parking lot, not our busy street!) Here's a look at this fun party day for our sweet {almost} 5 year old!
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When I say Cooper planned almost all of the details for his party, I really mean it!  Right down to which cars should go together in the thank you favors...

...to sitting with me while we designed his birthday invitations.  "Mommy, let's make a big 5 that looks like a road!"

And when it came time to prepping this week, he loved picking out which cars we would use for the food signs...

...and making the traffic light Rice Krispies!

Party day turned out fabulous...despite the windy day that made us need to move the food table inside! :)

The pennant banners were made from scrapbook paper and cardstock triangles! And I printed 7 inch circles with the words in the middle and cut outside of the edge to make some stop light banners too!

Cooper picked out his menu too!  And he made sure each of his friends knew not to accidentally swallow the toothpicks!






We saw this idea on Pinterest and Cooper could not stop talking about it!  Daddy came to the rescue and turned these {brand new} gas cans into drink stations!


We had the thank you favors on the drink table too!  You can grab these thank you cards with versions for valentine's day and more gift tags here.

The kids table was my favorite!  The cars in the plates were necessary in the wind! :)  We used race car napkins all unfolded to make placemats and taped down the corners to make them wind proof.  The road table runners on all of the tables were just made out of black and white felt I had around the house {yay for free decorations!}



Have I mentioned the wind yet?  Because it completely hijacked our blowing out candles situation.  Cooper really wanted 5 individual candles to blow out.  Getting all 5 lit without the wind killing the flames was impossible...even with hands blocking the wind and whatever else we tried.  So, we finally settled for blowing out the lighter! LOL! #whateverworks

We set up a road with traffic signs for the kids to ride on.  And if you look closely enough you can see the railroad tracks Cooper taped down for the railroad!  You can find this set of adorable traffic signs here {affiliate link}.  I LOVE that they were super easy to put together, great quality and all the pieces go back into a box that's super easy to store!

Cooper lined up all the vehicles we brought {not all from our house!} for the party... #thecutest

And then off they went!  I absolutely loved watching this kid and his friends do exactly what he's been dreaming about doing for almost 6 months now!









I say this every year, but truely this may have been my favorite party yet.  Just simple kid fun celebrating our miracle!

Weather is one of my favorite units to teach in first grade.  I especially love finding ways to connect content and literacy and weather is just so easy to do this with fiction texts!

Eric Carle's Little Cloud is the perfect creative writing story for weather! I have done this every year with my first graders...it makes a great display and the kids love the creative outlet!  This year, I am on mommy break with my little preschooler, so we did this project during our school time the other day!  And we had a blast! Read for more on how I adapted this art activity to push higher order thinking skills in my kiddos and get the freebie download...

First, we read Eric Carle's Little Cloud.  We talked about what shapes the cloud turned into in the story.

Then, we each took half a page of white construction paper and started tearing.  Over the years in first grade, I have changed this part of the activity.  I started out years ago letting my firsties tear whatever they wanted their cloud to be--no scissors...tearing only.  But I kinda got bored with this.  It really ended up being more of an art project and less of a creative thinking project.

So a couple of years into teaching, I changed the rules!  Now I set a limit on the number of tears.  And we all tear together to make sure no one purposefully makes a shark or whatever.  We tear once.  Then we tear again.  They can choose to turn the paper whichever direction for each tear.  I usually stop between 4-6 tears.  Sometimes, I even give them the choice to stop at 4 tears or tear another time.

Once, we've finished tearing, we look at our "cloud" and decide what it turned into.  We turn it all different directions wondering, "What could my cloud be?"  This has really helped beef up this activity to more higher level thinking because it forces kids to take what they already have and make something out of it...instead of having full control.

This was Cooper's first cloud he made. "Yook, Momma, it's a pig! See his nose?"

Once he figured out what his cloud had turned into, we glued it onto his "sky."


Then, Cooper wrote what his cloud turned into...this was his first cloud, a boot.  This writing activity was perfect for my little emerging writer.  But even in first grade, the focus of this activity isn't writing, it's pushing kids to think outside the box!

This made the perfect display for our refrigerator at home, and our hallway in first grade!

This activity comes from my very popular, 6 week integrated unit on Weather.

Or just download the freebie HERE!
Every year on my son's birthday, I post a personal blog about his party and a little note for him to always have from Mommy....

Dear Cooper,
I cannot believe my baby boy is 4.  Mommy is a little sad, but you are more excited than ever.  You must have known I was a little sad lying down with you for one last time as a 3 year old last night because you said, "Mommy, don't worry, I will still snuggle you when I'm 4, too."

Is it too much to ask for you to still snuggle me when you're a teenager?

You have amazed us this year, sweet boy!  You have grown so SO tall this year and your quick wit keeps us laughing.  Your speech has improved (I'm sad about that too!) and you continue to amaze us with how much you understand and think about the world around you.  But mostly, I'm so proud of your tender heart for Jesus.  This year, you asked Jesus into your heart.  And I wasn't completely sure then that you understood it, but you have shown us this year that you do.  You ask questions about God that blow our minds and are so sensitive to Him.  You shine your light for Jesus everyday and we couldn't be any prouder of that!

We pray blessings on you, precious 4 year old.  We pray God will give us wisdom on how to nurture your sensitive spirit, mold your stubbornness into determination, and encourage your servant heart.  We pray God's protection for you as grow and for Godly friendships to bloom in your life.

But most importantly, I pray that you will always be a reminder to Mommy and Daddy of God's grace, His miracle working power, and his perfectly timed plans.

Thank you for giving us the gift of being Mommy and Daddy!  Happy birthday, Boo Bear!

"I love you so much.  I love you so much.  I can't even tell you how much I love you."
~Mommy

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Now, let's get down to party pics! :)  When we started planning Cooper's party, he was big into the show, Handy Manny.  So he wanted a handyman party.  This might have been the most fun party for me to plan so far!  I loved that we had TONS of things around the house that we could use already for decorations and I just thought a tools only party would be so unique and fun!  But seeing Cooper's reaction to all of the pieces of the party was my favorite part of this day!

I loved our "hammer time" theme and this banner turned out perfectly! (Thanks to my mother-in-law and her silhouette machine for helping me with all of my diecuts!)

The food table before the food got set out!

Cooper loved having his very on "yogo" {logo} on everything!

These were my favorite find!  I ordered gelato spoons that look like mini-shovels to eat our ice cream sundaes with!  And I put my yard stick tape I got as a teacher gift to good use for decorations too!

I absolutely ADORE my husband and his handy man skills!!  He made this saw blade cake stand out of wood for Cooper's gorgeous tools cake!

The bottom part of the stand was a hexagon--bolt shaped.  I wrapped it with the striped paper and added his logo...

I cannot say how much I love Shelby Lynn's cakes enough!

Our party was not at our house and I'm kicking myself for forgetting the muffin tins I was going to set these mini-construction hats in for sundaes.  They would have looked so much prettier, but nothing is perfect, right?? :)

These $2 nail holders from the hardware store were perfect topping holders!  I just took the clear lid off of them.


"4 inch" measuring stick pretzels...

Cheddar bugles made great safety cone snacks!

When I called my dad and asked him if he had any metal toolboxes (Justin's were all canvas), I never would've dreamed he would bring me one he got from my grandfather on his 18th birthday!  So super special!


This is the kid table!  Thanks, Home Depot, for the free apron and project kits to work on!




Because construction hats are just cuter with a bow to top it off! #sweetneice

Here's the other toolbox my dad sent which was my grandfather's old toolbox!




Thanks to my sister-in-law for the cutest cookies EVER!

Follow her cookie shop on Facebook, ya'll!  She's the best!!

Thanks to everyone who made our little guy's day so special!
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